Sept. 21, 2005: PANEL NAMED TO STUDY BRAC PENINSULA EFFECT

Gov. Mark R. Warner created on Tuesday a 12-member panel, containing some of the Peninsula's most prominent political and business leaders, to study the consequences of Fort Monroe's expected closing and other troop movements on the Peninsula.Among the issues to be examined is the effect on traffic as 2,600 people who now work for the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, known as TRADOC, at Fort Monroe switch their commute to Fort Eustis.

"It's part of a continuing effort to continue having the right people around the same table talking about issues of a regional concern, rather than jurisdiction by jurisdiction," said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the governor. "The changes in Hampton affect Newport News and vice versa."

The president of Northrop Grumman Newport News, Michael Petters, will be the panel's chairman. It also includes two local members of the General Assembly and the mayors of Newport News and Hampton.

The group has no authority but is expected to offer recommendations by Dec. 1 for spending needs or new laws or regulations for the General Assembly to consider early next year, Hall said.

The base closing process has entered the final stage. If Congress doesn't reject the recommendations from the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, Fort Monroe will close within six years.

In addition to Fort Monroe's closure and the TRADOC workers shifting to Fort Eustis 20 miles away, about 750 people would transfer from outside the area to Langley Air Force Base.

The post-Army future of Fort Monroe is expected to remain unclear by the time that the panel finishes its work. Hampton city officials don't even expect to finish conceptual planning for the post's future until early next year.

Still, Hall said, the governor hopes that the panel might be able to play a role in one of the costliest and potentially most contentious issues of the historic post's transition -- the environmental cleanup.

City and state officials fear that the Army might try to avoid fulfilling its obligation to remove unexploded ordnance and other hazards from the post's ground and water.

"We want to make sure they clean it up," Hall said. "We think they seriously underestimated the cost." *